Paraguay Too Good, Azzurris Frustratingly Held, Brazil Brilliant In Easy Win

Game 27: Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay

This has been a great tournament for South American teams so far. Paraguay were just too solid in this game and Slovakia, once again, showed no desire to score goals when they really needed to. The game fizzled out in the second half as Paraguay opted to sit on their lead but when the chance arrived, they killed the game off in the second. In fact, they didn't need to work hard at all and if they can come up with their first half performance in this game more often, they will go far. Slovakia play Italy next and would have to come up with a lot more attacking football or else they are going home early. Paraguay are up against New Zealand next and should be strong enough to take all 3 points and top the group. Man of the Match: Lucas Barrios (provided a superb pass for the first goal and showed great teamwork and understanding upfront with Roque Santa Cruz and Nelson Valdez where they were troubling the Slovakian defence in the first half)

Game 28: Italy 1-1 New Zealand

Well done, All Whites! This is unbelievable. They actually have a chance to qualify for the Second Round when almost everyone, including me, had written off their chances right from the start of the tournament. Italy, in truth, played badly after scoring the equaliser. Stray pass after stray pass paved the way to another big shock at this year's World Cup. The Kiwis defended brilliantly for most part of the game and showed that better ranked teams doesn't have any guarantee that they will win against them easily. Italy must win against Slovakia to confirm their place in the knockout stage and they would have to play much better offensively in order to do that. New Zealand would do well to hold Paraguay and if they do, I wouldn't be surprised anymore. Man of the Match: Mark Paston (was much better than he was against Slovakia and made the saves - good ones at that - when called upon)

Game 29: Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast

That's enough criticism about the current football style of Brazil now. Zip it! They proved their critics wrong with a wonderful performance which probably match the performance put up by their arch rivals, Argentina. They were simply too good for the Ivorians who had no answer at all until late in the second half. Luis Fabiano finished one goal off clinically and showed awesome skills to score his second and Elano coolly slotted the third after a superb cross from Kaka who was later wrongly sent off. Their defence became complacent after that but were solid enough throughout the match and are the second team confirmed for the Second Round. They play Portugal in their last game and like the Dutch, would surely give their fringe players a chance to shine as they only need a draw to top their group. Ivory Coast would hope for a favourable result when Portugal and North Korea meet tomorrow and when they play the Koreans in their last group game, they would have to defend better and inject some pace and better incisiveness when attacking or else it is quite likely that no African country will be among the last 16. Man of the Match: Luis Fabiano (scored 2 good goals and played well alone upfront and connected well with the supporting cast of Kaka, Elano, and Robinho)